Scientists Finally Find and Map San Francisco’s Most Famous Shipwreck

December 12, 2014 11:36 AM

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On days when the fog isn’t too bad, sailing through San Francisco’s Golden Gate offers a beautiful view. You’ve got the city to the south, the Marin Headlands to the north, and, since 1937, the famed bridge overhead. But if you could see what’s below the surface, things are considerably less cheery. The rough waters to the west of the strait, known as the Gulf of the Farallones, include major shipping lines to the ports of San Francisco, Oakland, and Richmond. And they’re littered with the remains of hundreds of ships.

Now, scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have found the SS City of Rio de Janeiro, the most famous of San Francisco’s many lost ships, and produced 3-D sonar maps of the wreck. The discovery is part of a two-year project to find and document wrecks within the Gulf of th...